I went back to his office. He had John Cena in there at the time and he wanted me to cut it on John. I ripped into John with this stuttering character and they both were dying laughing. At the time John was like look, we need big guys, we need big heels on our show right now, we need some new blood. Hopefully this works out for you, big man. He was really supportive of it actually, of me trying it and keep going. Anyways, so I did it and they both liked it. I think it was a week later I debuted on Smackdown.

Wrestling INC: You weren't on Smackdown too long before you got your release. Was that something you saw coming or were you surprised by that?

Morgan: I did not see that one coming. I was working full time on television. I was in a current storyline with Carlito. Maybe I should have seen it once he got drafted and I didn't. But that's usually when that works. The bodyguard may get drafted to a different program or show. I had just got done wrestling Big Show and Akebono in Japan with Carlito. It was a pretty big match. I was in a feud with Big Show at the moment on television as well. So I definitely did not see that coming. Usually you see it coming when you're sitting at home bored. I should have seen it because the character was not taking off the way I'm sure Vince imagined it would. Again, that's on me. You got to own that crap. You can't just keep blaming it on people. I could sit here and say well, I graduated college magna cum laude with a degree in communication. Speaking is my thing. Public speaking is my thing. That's my strength. Well, okay. So what? How do we make it entertaining though? To their credit, that's how they figured they could make it entertaining. There you go.

Wrestling INC: What was the reason you were given for the release?

Morgan: That's easy. Inexperience. I was told to go out and get, Johnny [Laurinaitis] told me to go out and get main event experience. Go to Japan and get as much big money match experience as you can. I did. I went to New Japan. I worked every top guy they had for about a year. Went to All Japan for about eight months and worked every top guy they had there. I worked a lot of big names every one you could think of in Japan at least once to three times. So I did that.

And then when I came back to the states, Cornette had started with TNA. TNA was this upcoming promotion and I lived in Florida, so I went down to one of the tapings to visit with him and eat with him after the show. I talked to Jeff Jarrett at the time, and a little bit with Dixie Carter, I believe she had just taken ownership. Jeff knew I could talk. I don't think he knew much about my in ring work at the time. I know for a fact, he said, "Look, I know you're a big guy. From what I hear, super athletic. Let's sit down one day and let's figure this out, how we can get you in here." I remember him saying, just be patient because they were waiting for the deal from Spike to go through.

At that time, WWE again wanted me to get that main event experience that Johnny Ace had told me to go out and get. I'd been to Japan. So, the next thing I figured was I'd do that in TNA. I'll go there and I'll do whatever I've got to do to work my way up that card. Start at the bottom, work my way up. I eventually did that as well. What I didn't expect was falling in love with that company as much as I did.

Wrestling INC: You came in there at a pretty interesting time. Like you said, they had just gotten the deal with Spike. A lot of people had written TNA off years before. They just got the big deal and everything. What was the vibe like when you signed?